Shades of Grey
by fallingsnow6136
Summary: The Dark Ocean calls out for Kari again, the ruler wanting her as his Queen. Ken's dark past comes to haunt him once more. This is a battle that will decide the fate of both worlds and their own futures. Can they win by binding together or do they need more?


_Okay so hi! This story should not come to be yet but_ _ **Zero Slash One,**_ _this is dedicated to you so here goes nothing right? I hope you enjoy this one. Also, for pairings because I'm a hopeless romantic, I was either thinking Davis/Ken & Kari/Yolei OR my usual of Davis/Kari and Ken/Yolei. The former two might be easier to write in a Dark Ocean story but I will not write T.K./Kari. I just do not like them together romantically. Everyone else who reviews can pitch in a vote too but Zero Slash, do let me know in a review as well. Thanks to **coolgamer** for betareading this chapter._

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 **Chapter 01: The Call of Darkness**

 _The waves crashed around her, the water touching her legs. Was this a dream? She didn't know, she didn't want to understand. She had never thought she would be back here, not after all this time had passed. Why did this place keep calling her? What did they want?_

" _Tai…" Kari whispered, her voice getting lost in the air. Where was he? He had always been there. He had always been her guide, her protector but now she couldn't see him for miles. She couldn't see anyone for miles and chills ran down her spine. It was just like the first time she had been here. Had anyone seen her disappearing this time? She wished she had some answers._

" _Child of Light," a voice hissed and Kari shivered more, stumbling back and wrapping her arms around herself as a creature appeared. She felt as if she knew who this creature was but could not remember where she had seen him before. It looked like a large octopus with too many tentacles and the aura he emitted made Kari wish she were anywhere but here. Was it really this cold and dark or was he making it like this?_

" _W-who are you?" Kari managed to ask, her voice stammering a little which she wished it wouldn't but he was terrifying._

" _My name is Dagomon," The creature replied. "I am the ruler of the Dark Ocean. The Scubamon, my followers have greeted you before when you were a child. You refused to come then, Child of Light. Will you refuse again?" He extended one of his tentacles sliding it down her cheek._

 _Inadvertently, Kari flinched back, this time actually stumbling and falling, scraping her knee as she hit the ground. "I will always refuse." She was surprised at how steady her voice sounded._

" _Then I will have to persuade you," Dagomon said, his entire form glowing purple. Kari's fists clenched and she tried to force herself to remain calm. She suddenly gasped as a sharp pain struck her abdomen and she looked down, her hand drifting to it. Blood dripped from it at a steady rate and she tried to stop it however before she could do much about it, she felt tentacles wrap tightly around her body. Her mouth opened but no noise came out. She should scream. She had to escape. She had to. Gatomon…Tai...everyone, please help. Help. HELP!_

"Kari! Kari wake up!" Tai was shaking his little sister and Kari slowly came to as she looked around, her eyes immediately drifting towards where the wound was. A small cry of alarm left her as she realized she was still bleeding.

"T-Tai?" Kari said shakily, curling close to her brother, not caring that she was getting blood on his clothes and it seemed he didn't care either for he held her close.

"Kari, what happened?" Tai asked, stroking her hair gently wanting to tend to her wounds but he needed to get her to stop shaking because otherwise her wounds would bleed worse.

"Am I home?" Kari whispered causing Tai to blink but he smiled, hiding his momentary confusion.

"Of course, Kari," Tai said softly before pulling away, laying her down gently on the bed, beginning to tend to her wounds. He wasn't nearly as good as Joe but he did know a bit that he could use to help his sister out.

"I was at the Dark Ocean again, Tai," Kari said beginning to shiver. "I met the ruler of that world. His name is Dagomon. They want me, Tai. I refused his followers back then but now their master came for me and I don't want to go with them…" Tears began rolling down her cheeks. "I don't know how long I can refuse though…I've never been as strong as you."

It took every ounce of Tai's strength not to rush in and beat the crap out of this Dagomon dude for daring to hurt his baby sister, but his focus was on Kari right now seeing how scared she was.

"Listen to me, Kari," Tai said firmly. "You stood up to Myotismon when you were only eight years old, giving yourself up to him when most people would have run and saved themselves. Heck, even I would have been scared! You walked up to Machinedramon after he threatened to kill us all! I know you're scared and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't but we're not gonna let this creep take you. I'm going to call a group meeting right now. It's almost morning anyway and the others will understand it's an emergency."

Kari shifted a little. "Tai, should we really bother everyone about this? I mean, most of us are busy in starting University or in the workforce so…" She trailed off and Tai shook her head.

"Our personal lives aren't more important to us than you, Kari," Tai said, keeping her close to him as he dialed the Izumi household, hoping Izzy was around.

* * *

Izzy was completing an assignment for his course and he hoped he could get it done because this was a huge project. He had a pile of paperwork on his desk, outlining steps to get the project done.

"Izzy!" Mrs. Izumi called out. "Tai's on the phone! He says it's urgent!"

Izzy furrowed his brows as he looked at the time. The sun hadn't even properly risen yet so why was Tai calling him at this early hour? More importantly, how was he even awake at this hour? Did he have an early class today? Pushing the questions aside, he hurried outside and took the phone. "Tai? Is everything ok?"

"Izzy, sorry for the early morning call," Tai said quickly. "But I need you to call a DigiDestined meeting at my place as soon as possible because it's urgent. And this is an emergency."

Izzy had to hold the phone away from his ear with how loud Tai was being and he could still make out the words even as his friends finished the rambling. "Okay, Tai breathe and tell me what's going on first."

Tai exhaled. "It's the Dark Ocean…it's after Kari, the ruler of the place wants her and he wounded her when she went there in her sleep. She's scared, Izzy and so am I. I thought she was done with that place, why did it come back for her?"

Izzy bit his lower lip. The Dark Ocean had come after Kari while she was sleeping? That was rather worrying, no wonder Tai had been so frantic. He could not figure out why from here though so Tai was right, they would need to gather everyone…well, everyone but Mimi at least since she was in America.

"Don't worry, Tai," Izzy said quickly. "We will figure out what's going on, I promise. I need your help to gather everyone though. I can get a hold of Joe, Cody, Yolei and probably Ken. Can you get a hold of the others? We'll meet at your house in an hour."

"Course," Tai said immediately before pausing. "Thanks Izzy."

Izzy smiled, shaking his head. "Don't thank me yet. I will do my best to ameliorate the situation though."

"I know you'll be able to," Tai said confidently. "Anyway, see you soon."

"Bye," Izzy said softly hanging up with a small sigh. He hoped he would be able to do something. He dialed the Hida household, hoping he would be able to reach his successor, maybe he could even help him get a hold of Yolei…the two were childhood friends, after all.


End file.
